Registering dispenser



7, 1956 H. c. M KAY REGISTERING DISPENSER Filed Oct. 25. 1953 Fig. 4

Hosmere 6. Mc/(ay JNVENTOR. Q2262.

Attorneys REGISTERING DISPENSER Hosmere C. McKay, Portland, Conn.

Application October 23, 1953, Serial No. 387,880

8 Claims. (Cl. 235-91) This invention relates to a registering dispenserand particularly to a dispenser for registering the dispensing ofmedicines such as tablets, capsules or the like, but may be used for anydispensing article in which it is desirable to have a record of thearticles dispensed.

When taking medicine such as capsules, tablets or the like, it isfrequently desirable to be absolutely sure of the number of tablets ormedicine containers which have been utilized. Frequently, it isnecessary that medications be absolutely and accurately administered andif a patient should forget to take a capsule or should take one toomany, the results are frequently serious. Heretofore, it has beencustomary to provide various schedules so that the patient may mark downthe taking or administering of each dose so that the quantity taken maybe properly supervised. However, it is obvious that such list is easilymisplaced and separated from the medication so that the patient is notexactly sure of the amount of medication used.

The present invention provides a container or dispenser having a closurewhich may be opened to allow the medication or tablet to be removed andwhich may be again locked in closed position to retain the remainingcapsules or other medication within the container. An automaticregistering device is enclosed in the cover of the device, so thatopening and closing the cover will automatically register the amount ofmedication removed. For example, if it is necessary to take threetablets during a day, the registering device will indicate the number oftablets taken and the day in which they were taken so that the patientmay be absolutely sure as to the number taken.

in the construction according to the invention, the cover is providedwith a ratchet toothed disk, successive teeth which are each presentedto and operated by a pair of cam members alternately upon opening andclosing of the cover to advance the disk so that an indicia provided onthe disk may be observed through any suitable opening or a particularspot pointed out by other indicia so that at a glance, the patient maytell the number of capsules or medications which have been removedtherefrom. The dispenser may be completely self-contained and containits own compartment for holding the medication, or the dispenser may bearranged to be mounted on a suitable container of the medications sothat any desired number of the medications may be carried and dispensedthereby or the dispenser may be applied to fresh supplies in a newcontainer.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a dispensingcontainer.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a registeringdispenser.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a registeringdispenser operated by the opening and closing of the dispenser.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of the presentinvention will be apparent from the follownitcd States Patent "ice ingdetailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawingin which:

Figure l is a perspective view of a dispenser container according to theinvention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged view in vertical transverse section takensubstantially on the plane indicated by the reference line 22 of Figure1;

Figure 3 is a view in horizontal section taken substantially on theplane indicated by the reference line 33 of Figure 2 and showing thetoothed disk with the indicia thereon;

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional elevational view rotatedrelative to Figure 3 showing the cover in fully open position andshowing how one cam operates one of the teeth when the cover is fullyopened;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary view similar to Figure 3 but rotated 180 andshowing how the tooth is operated by the other earn when the cover ismoved toward closing position;

Figure 6 is an elevation with parts broken away and in section showingthe application of the dispenser to the mouth of a bottle or othercontainer, and

Figure 7 is a fragmentary perspective view partly broken away and shownin section of the body of the container and the cams.

In the exemplitication according to the invention, a body it? isprovided with a hollow interior 12 which may be, if desired, closed by abottom 14 which may be integral with the sides 16 of the body in.

The top of the body it) is left open so that access may be had into thespace 12, or if desired, the bottom 14 may be omitted and a flange 18may be supplied instead thereof so that the body 19 may be applied to abottle 20 or other suitable container of medication. A portion of thebody 10 is divided out by means of a partition 22 to provide anoperating chamber 24. A cover member 26 is pivotally mounted in the side16 of the body It) by means of suitable pivot pins 28. The pivot pin 28extends parallel to the partition 22 and one the side of the partition22 in the compartment 24.

The cover 26 is provided with a substantially circular chamber 28 inwhich is placed a disk 35) having peripheral ratchet teeth 32 thereon.The disk 30 substantially fills the chamber 28 and is free to rotatetherein. A portion of the cover 25 has been cut away at 34 to expose asmall segment of the disk 39 and the teeth 32 thereon. A top 36 ispreferably provided integral with the cover 26 and encloses the chamberso that the disk 30 is completely enclosed therein and incapable ofbeing removed therefrom during normal operation. A cover 38 may cover aportion of the operating chamber 24 and the top 36 should be cut away tomeet the portion 38. A cut-away corner 41) should be provided on the top36 so that when the cover 26 is oscillated about the pivot point 28, thecorner 4i) will inhibit binding between the top 36 and the portion 38.Preferably the portions 35 and 33 are in horizontal alignment with eachother so that the portion 38 covers a portion of the disk 30 exposed bythe cutting away of the top 36.

Preferably a catch 42 is provided for securing the cover 26 in closedrelation with respect to the body it so that it will be necessary tomechanically open the device to extract a medication or other objecttherefrom so that there will be no false openings and therefore falseindications on the recording device.

The operating mechanism for the registering disk comprises a verticalelongated cam member 46 disposed against one side of the chamber 24 andso positioned that when the cover 26 is in closed position, one of theteeth 32 will be in engagement with the cam 46. The teeth 32 are ratchetteeth whereby they are provided with front faces 50 which aresubstantially radial with respect to the disk 3%! and with back faces 52which are oblique with respect to the face fill and the cam 46 isprovided with a back face 54 which is substantially parallel to theradial face 50 of the teeth and a front face 56 which is substantiallyparallel to the back face 52 of the teeth 32. An elongated cam 6t? isplaced in the chamber 24 and extends at preferably a right angle withrespect to the cam 46 and is displaced laterally therefrom in thedirection of the rotation of the disk 3% by a distance of the order ofhalf of the distance between the front faces 56 of the teeth 32. The camas is provided with a back face 62 Wihch is substantially parallel tothe radial faces 50 of the teeth 32 and a front face 64 which islikewise substantially parallel to the back faces 52 of the teeth 32.

Any desirable indicia may be placed on the disk 34), and is herein shownas the so-called three-a-day schedule in which each day is provided withthree different indicators as first, second and third are provided foreach day so that assuming that the patient takes the first medication inthe morning, opening the device will give both the day and the dose sothat it will be apparent that two more doses are to be taken before theday is completed. As shown, the schedule comprises a series of thenumerals l, 2, 3 for each day of the week, the series being arranged ina circle on the disk 3ft, the numerals in the series being radiallyopposite the teeth 32, and designated in each series by the day of theweek, the numerals in each series and the days of the week beingarranged in ascending order reversely relative to the direction ofrotation of the disk 3t indicated by the arrows in Figures 3, 4 and 5.As the different doses are removed, the indicia will be automaticallyadvanced so that the patient may tell at a glance whether or not he hasactually taken the medication desired. Obviously, any desired indiciaother than days of the week and times of the day or times per day may besubstituted. For example, a straight number indicia may be utilized sothat the number of articles removed from one up may be ascertained.Obviously, it may be placed in reverse order so that a given number ofarticles may be placed in the dispenser and at a glance, it will beobvious how many still remain. Preferably, the top 36 is provided with awindow as through which the indicia 66 may be observed.

in operating the device, any suitable articles to be dispensed may beplaced either in the chamber 12 or in the container fill as may bedesired. The catch 4-2 is released so that the cover 26 may be movedfrom fully closed horizontal position shown in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 6into fully opened vertical position shown in Figure 4. In the fullyclosed position of the cover 26, the cam 4s fits between and engages twoadjacent teeth 32, as shown in Figure 3, and prevents rotation of thedisk When the cover 26 is pivoted from fully closed position intosubstantially halfway open position, as shown in dotted lines in Figure2, the two adjacent teeth are disengaged from the cam dd, and uponfurther opening of said cover 26, the back face 52 of the leading tooth32 of the two will engage the front face 64 of cam till and said faces52;, 64. will coact with a cainming action to move the disk in degreecorresponding to half the width of the leading tooth when the cover isin fully opened position as shown in Figure 4. N ow, as the cover 3 ismoved into substantially halfway closed position as shown in Figure 5,the back face of the same leading tooth 3a will engage the face 56 ofcam 46 and said faces 52, 56 will coact with a camrning action to againmove the disk as in the same direction in substantially the same degreeso that it will be moved when the cover is fully closed a distance equalto the width of one tooth and the indicia 6o opposite the tooth will bevisible through the window 63. Obviously, each opening and closing ofthe cover 26 will advance the disk 3% by successive degrees, or step bystep, a distance corresponding to the width of one tooth.

It will thus be apparent that the present invention pro- 4 vides aconvenient dispenser which may be readily opened to remove medication orother items therefrom and which will automatically record the openingand closing of the device.

For purposes of exemplification, a preferred embodiment of the inventionhas been shown and described according to the best present understandingthereof. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatvarious changes and modifications of the construction and arrangement ofparts thereof may be resorted to without departing from the true spiritand scope of the invention.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. An article dispenser comprising a body member, a control chamber insaid body, a dispensing aperture in said body, a tilting cover movableinto and out of closing relation with said aperture, an annular chamberin said cover, a disk-like body mounted in said chamber, teeth on theperiphery of said disk-like body, a portion of said cover being cut awayto expose a segment of said teeth, said cut-away portion of said coverextending into said control chamber, a pair of angularly disposed camsin said control chamber, said teeth engaging one of said cams when saidcover is in closing relation and the other of said cams when the coveris out of closing relation.

2. An article dispenser comprising a hollow body having an open top, acontrol chamber in said body, said control chamber being open to theopen top of said hollow body, a cover pivotally mounted in the open topof said body, said cover being movable into and out of closing relationwith said open top, an annular chamber in said cover, an indicator diskmounted in said annular chamber, a portion of said cover being cut awayto expose a portion of the periphery of said disk, teeth on theperiphery of said disk, said cut-away portion extending into saidcontrol chamber, a pair of cams disposed in angular relation in saidcontrol chamber, said teeth engaging one of said cams when said cover isin closed relation and the other of said cams when in open relation.

3. An article dispenser comprising a hollow body having an open top, acontrol chamber in said body, said control chamber being open to theopen top of said hollow body, a cover pivotally mounted in the open topof said body, said cover being movable into and out of closing relationwith said open top, an annular chamber in said cover, an indicator diskmounted in said annular chamber, a portion of said cover being cut awayto expose a portion of the periphery of said disk, teeth on theperiphery of said disk, said cut-away portion extending into saidcontrol chamber, a pair of cams disposed in angular relation in saidcontrol chamber, said teeth engaging one of said cams when said cover isin closed relation and the other of said cams when in open relation,said cams being laterally displaced whereby movement of said cover outof and into closing relation produces partial rotation of said disk.

4. An article dispenser comprising a hollow body having an open top, acontrol chamber in said body, said control chamber being open to theopen top of said hollow body, a cover pivotally mounted in the open topof said body, said cover being movable into and out of closing relationwith said open top, an annular chamber in said cover, an indicator diskmounted in said annular chamber, a portion of said cover being cut awayto expose a portion of the periphery of said disk, teeth on theperiphery of said disk, said cut-away portion extending into saidcontrol chamber, a pair of cams disposed in angular relation in saidcontrol chamber, said teeth engaging one of said cams when said cover isin closed relation and the other of said cams when in open relation,said cams being laterally displaced whereby movement of said cover outof and into closing relation produces partial rotation of said disk,indicia 011 said disk, said indicia being correlated with the partialrotation of said disk.

5. An article dispenser comprising a hollow body having an open top,control chamber in said body, said control chamber being open to theopen top of said hollow body, a cover pivotaliy mounted in the open topof said body, said cover being movable into and out of closing relationwith said open top, an annular chamber in said cover, an indicator diskmounted in said annular chamber, a portion of said cover being cut awayto expose a portion of the periphery of said disk, teeth on theperiphery of said disk, said cut-away portion extending into saidcontrol chamber, a. pair of cams disposed in angular relation in saidcontrol chamber, said teeth engaging one of said cams when said cover isin closed relation and the other of said cams when in open relation,said teeth having front faces disposed radially of said disk and backfaces disposed angularly to said front faces.

6. An article dispenser comprising a hollow body having an open top, acontrol chamber in said body, said control chamber being open to theopen top of said hollow body, a cover pivotally mounted in the open topof said body, said cover being movable into and out of closing relationwith said open top, an annular chamber in said cover, an indicator diskmounted in said annular chamber, a portion of said cover being cut awayto expose a portion of the periphery of said disk, teeth on theperiphery of said disk, said cut-away portion extending into saidcontrol chamber, a pair of cams disposed in angular relation in saidcontrol chamber, said teeth engaging one of said cams when said cover isin closed relation and the other of said cams when in open relation,said teeth having front faces disposed radially of said disk and backfaces disposed angularly to said front faces, said cams having backfaces disposed substantially parallel to the front faces of said teethand front faces disposed substantially parallel to the back faces ofsaid teeth.

7. An article dispenser comprising a hollow body having an open top, acontrol chamber in said body, said control chamber being open to theopen top of said hollow body, a cover pivotally mounted in the open topof said body, said cover being movable into and out of closing relationwith said open top, an annular chamber in said cover, an indicator diskmounted in said annular chamber, a portion of said cover being cut awayto expose a portion of the periphery of said disk, teeth on theperiphery of said disk, said cut-away portion extending into saidcontrol chamber, a pair of cams disposed in angular relation in saidcontrol chamber, said teeth engaging one of said cams when said cover isin closed relation and the other of said cams when in open relation,said teeth having front faces disposed radially of said disk and backfaces disposed angularly to said front faces, said cams having backfaces disposed substantially parallel to the front faces of said teethand front faces disposed substantially parallel to the back faces ofsaid teeth, said cams being offset a distance of the order of half thedistance between teeth points.

8. An article dispenser comprising a hollow body having an open top, acontrol chamber in said body, said control chamber being open to theopen top of said hollow body, a cover pivotally mounted in the open topof said body, said cover being movable into and out of closing relationwith said open top, an annular chamber in said cover, an indicator diskmounted in said annular chamber, a portion of said cover being cut awayto expose a portion of the periphery of said disk, teeth on theperiphery of said disk, said cut-away portion extending into saidcontrol chamber, a pair of cams disposed in angular relation in saidcontrol chamber, said teeth engaging one of said cams when said cover isin closed relation and the other of said cams when in open relation,said earns being laterally displaced whereby movement of said cover outof and into closing relation produces partial rotation of said disk,indicia on said disk, said indicia being correlated with the partialrotation of said disk, means for attaching said dispenser to an articlecontainer.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS506,618 Bailey Oct. 10, 1893 1,007,123 Macdonald Oct. 31, 1911 1,465,362Mamiya Aug. 21, 1923 2,062,954 Whitlock et al. Dec. 1, 1936 FOREIGNPATENTS 103,173 Switzerland lan. 16, 1924 134,046 Switzerland Sept. 16,1929

